


On the Matter of Protection

by StripedSunhat



Series: A Village of One [5]
Category: Girl Genius (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen, Klaus does everything wrong, Otilia is the Muse of Protection for a reason, Why Gil needs therapy, Why Klaus needs therapy, Why Sparks need therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-14 13:33:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16913793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StripedSunhat/pseuds/StripedSunhat
Summary: Assassins come for Gil.  Klaus has a talk in the aftermath.It does not go well and Klaus isnotthe expert on protection here.





	On the Matter of Protection

Klaus was going to burn Europa to the ground.

Every. Last. Inch.

Assassins had come after Gilgamesh.

They’d waited until Gilgamesh had been alone, walking down an abandoned corridor back towards the school. There had been three of them, all armed and _waiting_. They were hardly the first assassins Gilgamesh had faced. But these assassins had been after him. Specifically, _explicitly_ targeting Gilgamesh.

They had come for his _son._

Klaus punched the wall feeling the metal give way under his knuckles.

They hadn’t known he was Klaus’s son. No, in many ways what they’d known was worse. All they’d known was that Gilgamesh was _important_. Important enough to be singled out, to have free access to parts of the airship he shouldn’t have ever seen, to have Klaus’s attention. That had been what the assassins had been after, after all. The Baron’s _attention_.

So Klaus was going to raze this everything to the ground and not stop until he could be certain his son would be **safe.**

Maybe they’d do better with the next continent.

 **“Klaus.”** Klaus didn’t turn around. He didn’t even bother acknowledging the figure behind him at all. He was in no mood for this fight again. Madame Von Pinn kept talking anyway. “Gil went missing, **again.** And has only just resurfaced in the medical ward, **again.** ”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

“When he disappears like this, away from anyone who can help him, it puts him in **danger.** ”

Klaus finally wheeled around, propelled by a fierce surge of anger, words spilling out of his mouth that he barely registered. “Well that won’t be a concern much longer. Gilgamesh will not be staying aboard the airship.”

**“You _Cannot._ ”**

“He is **my** charge. I can do with him what I want.”

“And where do you plan to put him?”

“I –” Klaus froze. He had no clue. He had no real plans for this, not really. All his plans were for more purposeful threats against Gilgamesh. They were scorched earth and tearing everything down behind him. He’d never once thought that the empire might calmly keep going while Gilgamesh was in **danger**. He had no safe houses set up and waiting, not for something like this. His ancestral home was still rubble. He hadn’t bothered to rebuild it. He’d built the airship instead. Someplace high up and untouchable and _safe_ for Gilgamesh. “I’m not sure yet. Somewhere more controlled."

Von Pinn went inhumanly still.

If she wasn’t going to do anything, she could at least do him the courtesy of leaving.

“Five years,” She finally said in a soft, controlled tone, completely at odds with the rest of this conversation.

“What?”

She lifted her chin before continuing with the same seeming-gentle voice, “It has been five years since you first took a particular interest in Gilgamesh. Your attention has not wavered once since.” Klaus bristled. He had to fight down the urge to snarl at her. “You also have not become interested in any other student at any point in that time. Not once. That school is teeming with potential and you don’t even notice at all. Except Gil.” Klaus’s fingers curled around themselves, wishing for a weapon. If this was a threat, if she was in any way threatening Gilgamesh – “So I **looked.** For why he is so important to you. And I have **found** my answer.” She took a step forward. “He is your son.”

It was in no way a question. It was a declaration – possibly of war. But it still demanded confirmation. And the look in her eye made it painfully clear if he was stupid enough to try lying it would end bloody.

“He is.”

“So it’s true.”

“It is.”

Von Pinn straightened her spine, something in her dropping away even as her posture became even more rigid. “I see. And here I thought your interest in him had sprung from some sort of affection or bond you somehow forged. Instead I learn that you do not love him at all.”

Klaus lunged at her. **“You _Dare_ –”**

Von Pinn surged forward to meet him, snarling in his face. “You do not love him for the child that he is or the man that he will become. You love him for his blood in his veins. For **your** blood in his veins.” He slashed at her face with his hand. He didn’t need weapons. He would rend her limb from limb. And there would be no one to stitch her back together. Von Pinn dodged easily. “You think you can kill me? **Try.”**

“You are nothing! A failed nursemaid whose only purpose **died** while he was still in the cradle.”

Von Pinn took a step back and…

Laughed.

“You know **nothing.** ” She stalked forward, forcing him back. “I am Otilia, Muse of Protection.”

Klaus took another step back in spite of himself. “The Muses were all clanks. You are a construct.”

She smiled at him. He would have called it a jäger’s smile except it felt more like something they would have learned from her. “ **Wrong.** I will always be the Muse of Protection regardless of what chains try to trap me. I will continue to protect those under **my** charge, and that includes **your** son.”

“Gilgamesh will –”

“Gil will stay **here**. He is, after all, your son. He will be the next Baron. But he cannot do that unless he first learns to protect himself. Spiriting him away to some hidden nowhere is not protection it is imprisonment. It does not matter how well you tried to train him, without a chance to fail here, now, where he can be protected he will fail **then.** And he will **die.** He would not be safe unless you planned to lock him away forever. And you won’t do that. Not to your blood and heir.”

“You will never see Gilgamesh again. You will never see _any_ of the students again. Do not forget that _I_ am the one who charged you with your duties. Everything you did was by _my_ leave. You are here because _I_ allowed it.”

Vo– Otilia laughed again. “You are not a small man, Herr Baron. But you make yourself smaller with every word. You will not follow through with your threat to take Gil away. It is not even a threat. Because you know I am **right.** ”

Klaus growled deep in the back of his throat.

“We both know you will not acknowledge this conversation after it is done. You will not **let** yourself acknowledge it. I will return to my role and my charges. And you will return to the empire. And Gilgamesh will return to the school.”

**“Leave.”**

Otilia closed the last of the distance between them. “Remember this, _Herr Baron_. My duty is **protection.** And it is one charged to by a far greater King than you.”

And then she stepped back, inclining her head in a shallow bow. “By your leave, Herr Baron,” Ot– Von Pinn said before turning and striding off.

Klaus did not watch her leave, instead slamming into the main room of the examination area.

She was **_wrong._**

He grabbed a stack of medical files at random. Within minutes a minion has swapped them out with inventory reports that he could actually do something with.

It was only another half an hour before the doctor came and let him know that Gil was fine. They’d finished checking him over and he was free to leave. Given that Sun had insisted that at least one of the airship’s medical staff be looped in on who Gilgamesh really was, Klaus was certain it had been an exceedingly thorough check. It didn’t help any.

He didn’t look up when Gilgamesh slipped out of the smaller room and into the outer common area where Klaus was. The footsteps cut off as if he’d stopped short.

“Father?”

Klaus kept his gaze trained on the papers. “Yes?”

“I thought you must have been called away.”

He flipped to a new page. “Why would you think that?”

“You never came into the room and…” Gil trailed off and fell silent. Klaus waited for him to finish the thought.

When it became clear he wouldn’t Klaus cleared his own throat. “I’m sure your teacher are missing you.”

“Aren’t we going to wait for Doctor Sun?”

Klaus didn’t let himself look up from the reports. He knew what he’d see. Minor lacerations on the upper arms – defensive wounds from a knife. Scattered bruising including the face – a fight against several larger, stronger opponents. Sprained wrist and injured shoulder – they had _grabbed him_ – “Your injuries were minimal and straightforward. There’s no reason to call Doctor Sun up to the airship all the way from the Great Hospital.” How much attention had he drawn to Gilgamesh by calling on Doctor Sun every time anything happened even slightly involving him?

“But what about –”

“If the doctor said you’re free to leave then you are.”

Gil took a deep breath before letting it out shakily. Klaus could hear the hitch in it. “Father I know you’re disapp–”

“It would be best if you returned to the school.”

The statement was met with absolute silence.

Eventually the sounds of footsteps started up again interrupted only by the quiet click of the door opening.

When Klaus finally looked up Gilgamesh was gone. The door was still open but Gil was far enough away to no longer be in sight.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> There was originally supposed to be a whole other section at the end. There's at least three to four hundred words of Klaus continuing his spiral in (relative) solitude, at least half of which I already wrote before deciding against it, that I really liked but this just seemed like the better ending point. Only now I have no idea what to do with the leftovers. Scrap them obviously, but even when I hate them or can't use them I'm not good at wiping away forever things that I wrote. It's a problem.


End file.
